Degradation of an organophosphorus insecticide in aqueous medium by Electro-Fenton process

Abstract

This work proposes the remediation of toxic and/or refractory pollutants, such as the organophosphorus insecticide (Phosmet) which cannot be completely degraded by conventional methods like biological treatment, adsorption, flocculation, electro-flocculation, reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration, coagulation. However, these techniques have some disadvantages such as incomplete removal, therefore, the Electro-Fenton process was used. The major factors affecting the removal of Phosmet, namely the current intensity, catalyst concentration (Fe3+), temperature solution, nature of the electrolytes and oxygenation duration of the solution were studied in this work. The optimal operating conditions appeared to be: current intensity 200 mA, 0.5 mmol L-1 of Fe3+, T= 20?C, pH =3 using Na2SO4 (50 mmol L-1) as supporting electrolyte and an oxygen supply throughout all the experiments (120 min). Under these optimal conditions, the removal efficiency of the phosmet was 88%.